


The Letter

by shoshanaisabelle



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Essays, One Shot, Sorting, Sorting Ceremony, albus is sorted into slytherin fic, albus talking to the sorting hat, scorbus if you really really squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 16:09:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9279374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shoshanaisabelle/pseuds/shoshanaisabelle
Summary: Albus Potter had never been more nervous in his life. He was more nervous than the time he had somehow missed Lily dropping the family cat into a bubbling cauldron while he was supposed to be watching her. He was more nervous than the time his parents had thought it would be a fun idea for their terrified child to lead out the Holyhead Harpies at a charity Quidditch match as a mascot. He was even more nervous than when James had insisted Quidditch team mascots served as back-up Quaffles in case the real ones went missing. He was overwhelmingly, sickeningly, agonisingly nervous.Canon-compliant Albus sorting fic. Second chapter is an essay on why Albus was sorted into Slytherin.





	1. The Letter

**Author's Note:**

> I’m guessing by the lack of fanfiction on this subject, other people don’t lie awake at night cursing Jack Thorne for not informing us exactly what the Sorting Hat said to convince Albus to choose Slytherin (I wish I could say I was joking). Here’s my interpretation, which mixes Cursed Child canon with canon from the original series. I also wrote a companion essay explaining my thought process, because I’m a Ravenclaw. That’s the second chapter.
> 
> Oh, and I made Flitwick Deputy Headmaster… because I realised I could.

Albus Potter had never been more nervous in his life. He was more nervous than the time he had somehow missed Lily dropping the cat into a bubbling cauldron while he was supposed to be watching her. He was more nervous than the time his parents had thought it would be a fun idea for their terrified child to lead out the Holyhead Harpies at a charity Quidditch match as a mascot. He was even more nervous than the time James had insisted Quidditch team mascots served as back-up Quaffles in case the real ones went missing. He was overwhelmingly, sickeningly, agonisingly nervous.

It was his first evening at Hogwarts. The first years were waiting in a small chamber off the Entrance Hall, huddled so closely together that Albus could not help but hear the whispered conversations that were taking place all around him. Every now and again he caught the sound of his own name, which filled his stomach with a hot, bubbling liquid terror. He tried to ignore it.

“Albus Potter!”

“A Potter. In our year!”

“He’s got his hair. He’s got hair just like him.”

Rose bristled from beside him. Albus counted exactly two seconds before she intervened.

“And he’s my cousin,” she said loudly, swinging her arm around Albus’s shoulder. The gossiping students turned crimson. “Rose Granger-Weasley. Nice to meet you.”

Trust Rose to turn the worst moment of Albus’s life into self-promotion. He felt his cheeks burn as he tried to shrug Rose’s arm away and return to where Scorpius was waiting. His new friend was staring intently at the floor, a pale shade of green, yet still a more appealing companion than Rose.

They had not spoken since the disastrous boat journey across the lake from Hogsmeade, in which Albus had very nearly fallen in after what Hagrid described as the giant squid having “a bit o’ fun.” Most of that journey had been spent listening to Rose talking loudly and furiously, as though she feared she might lose the ability to speak if she did not do so continually.

He wished he could talk to Scorpius now. He wished they were back on the train, ideally heading towards London. The easy jokes and friendship that had come during that Hogwarts Express journey had evaporated now that the moment he dreaded loomed nearer.

He thought he was going to be sick.

Rose stopped talking and straightened up. Albus followed her line of gaze to the front, where the tiny Professor Flitwick had returned. Albus had not noticed the door open again over the sound of his own booming heart.

“We’re ready for you now,” squeaked Professor Flitwick, “now, if you could form a line and follow me.”

In silence, the first years assembled into a line. Albus took a place behind Scorpius, while Rose followed behind him. They walked out of the chamber, across the Entrance Hall and through an enormous pair of oak double doors into the Great Hall. Albus was surprised his legs were still working – they felt like lead. 

He nearly walked into Scorpius when the group stopped at the top of a long table where the teachers were all sitting. He caught sight of Neville, applauding ferociously and grinning at him and Rose. Albus could not move his face, so pretended he hadn’t seen.

The Great Hall was just as splendid and extravagant as his parents had described, but Albus did not appreciate it. All he noticed were four long house tables filled with students, watching the first years with a mixture of curiosity and impatience. Albus tried his best to hide behind Scorpius, lest the whispers about his family begin again.

He looked up at the ceiling. For a brief moment, he thought the sky was caving in. Yet the rain that was falling furiously from the grey storm clouds did not reach the students in the Great Hall. Albus wished it would. It might have distracted them from staring.

He was concentrating so hard on avoiding the gaze of everyone seated that he missed Professor Flitwick levitate a small four-legged stool in front of the first years, amidst a collective “ooh.” On this seemingly ordinary stool, he placed a very old, patched hat.

Albus stared at the hat, an inkling of realisation in his mind. The Sorting Hat.

All of a sudden, a rip near the brim of the hat opened widely – and it began to sing:

“ _I’ve done this job for centuries,_  
_On every student’s head I’ve sat,_  
_Of thoughts I take inventories,_  
_For I’m the famous Sorting Hat._

_I’ve sorted high,_  
_I’ve sorted low,_  
_I’ve done the job through thick and thin,_  
_So put me on and you will know,_  
_Which house you should be in…”_

The Great Hall burst into applause as the Sorting Hat finished its song. Albus clapped along, spotting the signs of relief on his fellow first years’ faces. They had clearly been expecting something scarier than trying on a hat. Albus just wished he could try the thing on in private.

Professor Flitwick stepped forward and unravelled a roll of parchment so long that the end brushed the ground in front of him. He began to speak.

“When I read your name, please put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted,” he said.

“Aldridge, Geraldine!”

A very small girl, blushing furiously, stepped forward to be the first to put on the hat. Albus watched her place the dirty hat upon her head and sit down. 

Ten seconds later, the hat shouted: “RAVENCLAW!”

Apparently immensely relieved, Geraldine walked towards the direction of the cheering table on the right and sat down.

“Ashby, Dorothy!”

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

The names kept coming. ‘Baker, Sophie’ and ‘Blackwell, Emmet’ also became Hufflepuffs, before ‘Burke, Norman’ was sorted into Slytherin and ‘Butterworth, Sidney’ became a Ravenclaw. 

The biggest roar came when ‘Chapman, Polly’ was sorted into Gryffindor, leading the table at the far left to erupt into cheers. Albus stared over at the table, where he could see James beating his hands together and sharing an apparently hilarious joke with the boy beside him. The table was littered with redheaded students, all cheering Polly. Albus looked away. What would his family say if he was sorted into Slytherin? What would his parents say when they read his first letter home revealing the news?

“Granger-Weasley, Rose!” 

Rose practically skipped to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly onto her head. It barely skimmed the top of her bushy red hair when the rip opened and it shouted, “Gryffindor!”

Albus groaned internally as the table on the far left roared even louder than it had for Polly. It was always so easy for Rose. If he didn’t make Gryffindor now, he’d be the only disappointment in the family.

It wasn’t long before “Malfoy, Scorpius!” was called and Albus watched an uneasy Scorpius carefully make his way out from beside Albus to the stool. There was rather a lot of whispering at the sound of his name. Albus tried to give Scorpius an encouraging smile as went, but it might have come out as more of a grimace.

The hall seemed to wait for the announcement with bated breath. Albus had heard Scorpius’s name muttered nearly as often as his own in the past hour.

The hat took longer than it did to sort Rose, but it was still within a few seconds that the rip opened and it shouted: “Slytherin!”

Scorpius half-smiled as the table on the far right applauded. Behind him, Albus heard mutters of “figures” and “makes sense.” He felt his stomach drop slightly. He had enjoyed speaking to Scorpius on the train. He had even hoped that they might be in the same house together. 

There were not many people left now. Scorpius was the last student Albus knew would definitely be sorted before him, and this knowledge did nothing to quell the terrible feeling his heart was going to jump out of his chest as Professor Flitwick continued to call names. There was ‘McDermott, Malcolm’, ‘Norbury, Edmund’, ‘Palmer, Astrid’…

“Potter, Albus!”

Albus was almost surprised he heard his own name over the sound of his thundering heart. The room seemed momentarily stunned into complete silence as Albus made his way towards the hat, desperate not to trip and fall as hundreds of eyes fell upon him.

He placed the hat on his head and felt a flood of relief when its too-wide brim fell over his eyes, finally shielding him from the staring.

“Ah, another Potter,” said a voice in his ear, so suddenly that Albus jerked in surprise. “This one’s interesting. Very interesting. So very much like your mother and father, and yet nothing like them at all. Where to put you?”

‘Please not Slytherin,’ thought Albus desperately, willing the hat to hear him.

“I thought you might say that,” said the small voice in Albus’s ear, relaxed and seemingly amused although Albus thought there was little to be relaxed or amused about. “Have you really considered it though? I see courage, certainly, but there’s so much else here. Resourcefulness. Brains. Ambition. A desire to prove yourself – to break away from the family name. Slytherin could help you discover who you are, Albus Potter.”

It should have felt like a nightmare. It was these very words that Albus has spent the last few weeks dreading as he lay awake at night, contemplating Hogwarts. It should have felt like a nightmare. It didn’t. Something had changed when he put on the hat.

“Yes,” urged the Sorting Hat, “consider it. Think about it. Slytherin could be the making of you. True friendships await there. Harry Potter’s shadow does not.”

He had never heard his Uncle Ron speak of Slytherins with anything less than contempt. There was no escaping the fact that the majority of dark wizards seemed to have a close affinity for Slytherin house.

But then Albus thought of Scorpius, who was kind and had shared his sweets on the train. Scorpius was a Slytherin, and he wasn’t evil, regardless of that rumour. Albus knew it. Severus Snape, who Harry deeply revered, had been a Slytherin and the bravest man Harry had ever known. He wasn’t evil either. Even his father, the saviour of the wizarding world, had told him at King’s Cross that he had been considered for Slytherin house.

He hadn’t chosen it though.

“There’s no shame in a house your parents didn’t choose,” said the Hat, “only in not following your heart’s desire. You would make a good Gryffindor, but it is in Slytherin where you will thrive.”

Albus thought back to the train again. He thought back to Rose and choosing which compartment to sit in. He thought of the whispers that had accompanied him wherever he went so far at Hogwarts. He thought of Scorpius, who looked at him as a friend.

Everything suddenly went very still.

Even though he had made his decision, Albus still felt oddly detached as the sound of the word echoed throughout the enormous Great Hall. For what felt like a long time, he merely sat there, the hat still upon his head.

When he finally took off the hat, he saw wide-eyed and surprised faces all across the hall. Several students were openly gawping. There was some cheering and applause from the table at the far right, but it was very nearly cancelled out by the eruption of whispers from students throughout the hall. The buzz was the loudest from the Gryffindor table.

Albus did not look for Rose. He imagined her face, pale and round and shocked. He imagined her words (“Albus? But this is wrong. Albus. This is not how it’s supposed to be!"). Slowly, he placed the hat on the stool and forced his feet to move.

He barely noticed he was gravitating towards the cheering Slytherin table until he got there. A couple of students stood up to shake his hand, repeating their names at him. Albus blinked. The lights were very bright. At the end of the table, a small blond boy had a grin the size of the gleaming dinner plate in front of him.

“Albus,” he called, waving his arms to grab Albus’s attention, “you can sit next to me!”

Albus felt himself release a breath he hadn’t know he was holding as he walked over to the empty space beside Scorpius and sat down. 

He tried not to think about what Harry and Ginny would think as he returned the courtesies of the Slytherins and watched ‘Talbot, Tabitha’ become what he was not: a Gryffindor. It did not feel as earth-shattering as he expected. In fact, he mostly just felt hungry.

It might have been the sudden and miraculous re-emergence of Albus’s appetite, but Albus thought the hat took a rather long time about sorting the last student (Waddingham, Wilbur). How long had Albus sat under the hat? It had felt both like no time at all and the longest few minutes of his life. 

Professor McGonagall said something next, but Albus wasn’t listening. He was wondering what on Earth he would say to his parents when he wrote to them later that night. As much as Harry had told him it didn’t matter what house he was sorted into, Albus was sure he hadn’t expected this outcome.

Students all around him suddenly broke out into noisy chatter. Scorpius pulled his sleeve. Albus snapped out of his thoughts, which had moved onto whether Albus’s owl could beat James’s home to London.

“Food!”

The golden platters and goblets in front of them filled with food and drink before their very eyes. There was a small rush for the Yorkshire puddings in front of Albus, but Albus still managed to pile his plate high with all his favourite foods. Scorpius did the same. He was beaming.

“I didn’t think you’d actually be in Slytherin! Nice!” 

Despite all of his fear for the future, Albus grinned back.

The letter to his parents could wait until tomorrow.


	2. ESSAY: Why did Albus Potter choose Slytherin?

When we first meet Albus Severus Potter, he is immensely afraid of being sorted into Slytherin. In fact, Harry notes the teasing from James about Albus being sorted into Slytherin strikes a “great and sincere” fear in his second son [DH, Nineteen Years Later]. Harry does his best to quell these fears by revealing to Albus the Sorting Hat takes the student’s choice into the account. Later that same day, Albus chooses Slytherin house over Gryffindor. How did such an enormous reversal in what Albus wanted take place?

In this essay, I will argue Albus Potter chose to be sorted into Slytherin. I will discuss why he made this decision by firstly examining how Albus’s circumstances changed in the hours between King’s Cross and the sorting, and secondly discussing what the Sorting Hat said to Albus to sway his decision.

My first subject of discussion is whether Albus chose to be sorted into Slytherin house. In this case, nearly all the evidence suggests yes. In Cursed Child [Act 1, Scene 2], Harry makes the following statement outright: “If it matters to you, you, the Sorting Hat will take your feelings into account.” This statement is supported by Harry’s own experience. In Philosopher’s Stone [The Sorting Hat], a young Harry asks the Sorting Hat not to be sorted into Slytherin and his request is – somewhat begrudgingly – granted. Harry is sorted into Gryffindor. 

Moreover, we later learn in an alternate timeline that Albus is a Gryffindor. In this timeline, Albus learns he chose Gryffindor to spite his AU cousin Panju – who insisted he could never get in. In this reality, little appears to have changed in Albus’s upbringing. Albus still has his parents, his siblings, a strained relationship with his dad and his friendship with Scorpius. This suggests that Albus had both Slytherin and Gryffindor qualities, and under the right circumstances could have been placed in either house. If so, this means that Albus’s choice was an important deciding factor in both timelines.

One interesting question to highlight is whether Albus was a Hatstall. A Hatstall is defined as “a student whose sorting took more than five minutes because the Sorting Hat found them to have a personality equally suited to different Hogwarts Houses.” The play outright states that the hat seems “confused” when placed upon his head [Act 1, Scene 4] and it takes longer to sort Albus than either Rose or Scorpius. This lends further credence to the theory that Albus is a combination of Slytherin and Gryffindor and could fit into either house. Therefore, Albus’s choice is important. As he ultimately became a Slytherin, it follows that this was his choice.

There is a counter-example however, which we learn on Pottermore. Neville Longbottom also took a very long time to sort, but not because he had equal qualities from two different houses. He was also denied the right to choose. On Pottermore, JK Rowling writes that Neville silently argued with the Sorting Hat for four minutes over his placing in Gryffindor. Neville requested a placing in Hufflepuff, but the Hat argued with him. If this was the case for Neville, it could mean Albus’s long sorting could be indicative of the same struggle. It does follow that due to Albus’s fear of being in Slytherin, he would fight very hard against the Sorting Hat placing him there.

This is unlikely to be the case for two reasons. Firstly, as already argued, Albus had the qualities of Gryffindor and Slytherin and the potential to be sorted into either. In contrast, Neville’s actions throughout the series leave no doubt he is a Gryffindor through and through. Secondly, as already noted, the Sorting Hat seemed “confused” by Albus. It is unlikely the hat would seem “confused” if it was determined to place Albus in one house or another. The more likely explanation is that the Sorting Hat saw multiple house qualities in Albus, and struggled to immediately conclude where he would be best sorted.

I have argued that Albus most likely chose to be sorted into Slytherin. The question of why he made this decision – despite being adamantly against it earlier that same day – is thus extremely interesting. I propose now that this can be explained by examining two factors. These are the change in Albus’s personal circumstances in the hours between King’s Cross and the sorting and what the Sorting Hat said to persuade Albus to choose Slytherin.

Two crucial events happened between King’s Cross and the sorting, which I believe impacted Albus’s choice of house. Firstly, Albus confided in Harry and received his father’s assurances that the family would not judge him for being in Slytherin house. The second event is that Albus met and befriended Scorpius, a boy who expected to be sorted into Slytherin house.

The comfort and reassurance from Harry that he and Ginny would not judge Albus for being in Slytherin is the first important factor that led to Albus’s choice. The opinion of Harry is extremely important to Albus. This is evident from Albus’s misguided attempt to bring Cedric Diggory back to life in Cursed Child, which demonstrates a deep desire to prove himself to his father. However, when Albus confesses his fear to Harry, Harry tells him: “Slytherin house will have gained an excellent student, won’t it? It doesn’t matter to us, Al.” [DH, Nineteen Years Later]. Given the anxiety Albus was experiencing over his sorting, and the fact that Harry’s opinion was important to him, these words probably had the intended soothing effect.

In addition to telling Albus that he and Ginny wouldn’t mind if Albus was sorted into Slytherin, Harry makes another important statement. He explains that Severus Snape – Albus’s namesake – was a Slytherin and the bravest man Harry ever knew. This piece of information is crucial. There is no doubt that Albus has been raised in an environment that highly values courage. Albus has been raised by Harry, Ginny and the Weasleys, who are all Gryffindor and proud. Harry even values bravery to the extent that he was willing to look beyond Severus Snape’s multiple faults and name a son after him. Through his upbringing, Albus has been taught to value bravery and he fears that Slytherin is “not a house of brave wizards” [CC, Act 1, Scene 2]. In the same scene, Harry puts this straight: “Albus Severus, you were named after two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew.” By saying this to Albus, Harry has quelled the fear that Slytherins do not value bravery – a trait that is very important to Albus – and further set the stage for Albus to choose the house.

The second factor that changed for Albus in the hours between King’s Cross and the sorting was his new friendship with Scorpius. In a post on Stack Exchange (see notes), Doug R notes the importance of Albus’s first meeting and subsequent friendship with Scorpius. Doug makes the case that Albus, like his father Harry, was “out of place and adrift” when he boarded the Hogwarts Express. Both Harry and Albus made a new friend on the Hogwarts Express who was fairly certain of which house they would be placed (all of Ron’s family were Gryffindors, while Scorpius “was expecting” [CC, Act 1, Scene 4] to be in Slytherin). Consequently, both Harry and Albus ended up in the same house as their new friend. Doug states: “My theory is that, for each of them, his new friend provided some direction that may have influenced his House placement.” 

In Philosopher’s Stone, Harry and Ron actively talk about the sorting in their carriage on the Hogwarts Express. Ron explains that his family, whom Harry finds extremely interesting, are all in Gryffindor. Although he is nervous about the sorting himself, it is clear he and his family expect he will follow suit and join Gryffindor. In Cursed Child, it is not clear whether Albus and Scorpius talked about the sorting on the Hogwarts Express. However, given that all evidence suggests the subject was playing heavily on Albus’s mind – it would not be a stretch to suggest he did discuss the subject with Scorpius at some point during the six hour journey. Albus is at least aware that Scorpius’s dad was likely a Slytherin, given that Scorpius talks about his dad’s past as a Death Eater. If Albus did breach the subject with Scorpius, he would have likely learned Scorpius was expecting to be placed in Slytherin. We know this to be the case due to Scorpius’s reaction to being sorted there, which is described in a stage direction as “Scorpius was expecting this, he nods and half smiles.” [CC, Act 1, Scene 4]

The fact that Scorpius was expecting to be placed in Slytherin – and later proved this by being sorted there – may have gone some way to convincing Albus that Slytherin wasn’t “the house of the snake, of Dark Magic.” [CC, Act 1, Scene 2] To understand the importance of this, we must examine Albus’s upbringing again. It is likely, given his parents, that Albus has not met many Slytherins by the time he stands upon Platform Nine and Three Quarters. If he has heard of Slytherins, they are likely the ones his father Harry has been putting in Azkaban. The only Slytherin known to be highly thought of in the Potter household is Severus Snape, and – judging by the fact Harry has to tell Albus this on the platform – the fact that he was a Slytherin is not a frequent subject of discussion. This lack of contact with Slytherins combined with his knowledge of the Second Wizarding War has given Albus the impression that all Slytherins are inherently evil, which is a good reason to not want to be placed there. Scorpius challenges this belief to the extreme. He and Albus become instant best friends on the Hogwarts Express, exchanging laughs, companionship and sweets. Possibly, given his apparent lack of closeness to his siblings and Rose, this is the first time he has clicked with someone in such a way. Moreover, Albus may have realised he was more suited to a house that contained Scorpius than one that contained Rose or James. It is, after all, noted how different Albus is from his Gryffindor siblings James and Lily (“Albus is different and isn’t that a good thing.” - Ginny [CC, Act 1, Scene 9]). In short, meeting and making friends with Scorpius challenges Albus’s belief that Slytherin is a house of dark wizards. Their instantaneous friendship may also have made Albus recognise his differences to the rest of the family.

A counterexample to this argument is the lack of influence the friendship between Severus Snape and Lily Evans had on Lily’s sorting. Prior to attending Hogwarts, Lily Evans met and befriended Severus Snape – a boy certain he was going to be put into Slytherin and who encouraged Lily to want to be placed there. Lily also met and disliked James Potter, a boy who expected to be placed in Gryffindor, where Lily was later sorted. While it is worth mentioning this counterexample, for Albus and Scorpius are compared to Lily and Snape more than once in Cursed Child, the situations are not really comparable. Unlike her son or grandson, Lily does not appear to be in the same state of insecurity at this point in her life. Further, it appears that Lily Evans’s house identity was unambiguous. In Snape’s Worst Memory, there is no suggestion her sorting took a particularly long time. Despite Slughorn’s suggestion Lily ought to have been in his house, there is no real evidence she embodied Slytherin traits the same way she did Gryffindor.

I have argued that Albus chose to be placed into Slytherin, and two key factors to making this decision were the reassurances of his father and his new friendship with Scorpius. The final topic I want to discuss is the conversation Albus had with the Sorting Hat in his head, which I believe was the first time Albus seriously considered being sorted into Slytherin.

Despite his anxiety over possibly being sorted into Slytherin, Albus’s reaction to being placed there suggests he did not really expect this outcome. In Cursed Child, Albus is described as being “unsure” and “thoroughly discombobulated” after the hat announces his house to be Slytherin [CC, Act 1, Scene 4]. As I have already argued that Albus must have chosen Slytherin House, the only interpretation of this reaction is that Albus surprised himself with his own decision. He was not expecting to choose Slytherin. Therefore, the conversation Albus had with the Sorting Hat during those few minutes was crucial to this decision.

Albus has many Slytherin qualities. He is cunning (his lie to Harry about leaving Hogwarts), resourceful (his plan to send a message to Harry from Godric’s Hollow in 1981), ambitious and thirsty to prove himself (his plan to save Cedric) with a certain disregard for rules (all of the above examples, again). However, he also has Gryffindor qualities, such as courage (standing up to Delphi), nerve (his insistence he will die before helping Delphi) and daring (most of his ideas). His very Gryffindor trait for recklessness (that Delphi plan, again) actually conflicts with the ideal Slytherin archetype, which only acts after carefully considering the options (Scorpius fits this trait far better). The Sorting Hat would have likely noted all of these coexisting and contrasting qualities in its discussion with Albus over where he should be placed. As one can see from the list, Albus – like his father – could fit in either house.

There is one significant advantage in choosing Slytherin house at this point for Albus. This is that it is not the house his father was sorted into. It is made clear when we first meet Albus that he is made uncomfortable by the reaction his family receives when they arrive at King’s Cross. In the DH [Nineteen Years Later], Albus asks “Why are they all staring?” and in Cursed Child [Act 1, Scene 2], he says “Everyone’s staring at us again.” The attention Albus receives as part of the Potter family, specifically as Harry Potter’s son, is something that seems to unsettle Albus again and again. The attention only increases when he arrives at school, where “everyone is dancing around Albus” in the Great Hall (CC, Act 1, Scene 4). This is in contrast to Rose’s response to the attention, which is to capitalise on her family name to make friends (“Rose Granger-Weasley. Nice to meet you.” [CC, Act 1, Scene 4]). Unlike his cousin, Albus makes no attempt at any point during the journey to Hogwarts to use his family name for his own advantage; instead he appears visibly burdened by the expectation his name provokes. Albus would prefer his life to be separate from the heroics of his father, a fact that we learn more about later in the play.

The comparisons to Harry Potter likely come faster for Albus than his brother James, due to the similarities in their appearance. In DH [Nineteen Years Later], Albus is described as closely resembling a young Harry. It is said “Alone of Harry’s three children, Albus had inherited Lily’s eyes.” In Cursed Child [Act 1 Scene 4], Albus’s classmate Yann Fredericks says: “He’s got his hair. He’s got hair just like him.” It is likely that because of their resemblance, Albus suffers the burden of being Harry Potter’s son disproportionately to his brother and sister. 

The expectations placed on Albus, for being Harry Potter’s son and also named after one of the greatest wizards that ever lived are enormous. Albus does not enjoy the pressure. This can be evidence by his first flying lesson, where Albus struggles to even raise his broom off the ground [CC, Act 1, Scene 4]. It seems very unlikely, given that his father is Harry Potter and mother is Quidditch professional Ginny Weasley, that this is the first time Albus has ever flown a broom. The scene makes it very clear that other students are watching Albus’s performance (“There’s giggling from the rest of the class” [CC, Act 1, Scene 4] and that Albus is “disbelieving” when he looks at the unmoving broom. It is not that Albus cannot fly a broom, but that he is negatively affected by the attention and expectations placed upon him. When free of the burden of expectations, such as while practicing the disarming charm with Delphi, Albus is able to master a spell he has always had difficulty with [CC, Act 2, Scene 4].

The heavy burden of being Harry Potter’s son is something that Albus feels strongly. It is this burden that drives Albus to attempt to prove himself, preceding the events of Cursed Child. It is a crucial aspect of Albus’s personality and a driving force for the character. The Sorting Hat would have seen this in Albus as clearly as it saw any single Gryffindor or Slytherin trait. If the Sorting Hat can read all of this in Albus’s mind, the logical solution is to push Albus towards the house where he would be more able to forge his own path. In Gryffindor, Albus would never be free of Harry Potter’s shadow. In Slytherin, he stands a fighting chance. Deep down, Albus probably knew this. I believe the Sorting Hat laid out this argument to Albus himself, and, begrudgingly perhaps, Albus chose Slytherin house. It was undoubtedly the right choice, as we later learn that Albus feels unhappy in Gryffindor house in an alternative universe where his life is mostly the same. Despite the reassurances from Harry and his friendship with Scorpius, Albus did not put the Sorting Hat on his head expecting to choose Slytherin. These simply made the decision easier when it was made, with the guidance of the hat, likely by tackling Albus’s desperation to prove himself outside of being Harry Potter’s son.

In conclusion, I have argued that Albus Potter chose to be sorted into Slytherin house. A selection of personality traits that made him suitable for both Gryffindor and Slytherin would have meant his choice was crucial to the sorting process, as it was for his father. This is further supported by the fact that in an alternative timeline, Albus chose to be sorted into Gryffindor. 

I have argued that two factors changed between Albus’s arrival at Platform Nine and Three Quarters and his sorting. These were that Albus confided in his father Harry, and received his reassurances in return, and that Albus met Scorpius, a friend who was likely to be sorted into Slytherin house. From confiding in Harry, Albus learnt that his mother and father did not mind which house he was sorted into. He also learnt that bravery, a trait highly prized by the Potter and Weasley families, was not a personality trait exclusive to Gryffindor house. In meeting and befriending Scorpius, Albus met a student who was very different to his understanding of what a Slytherin was. His friendship with Scorpius dismantled the belief that Slytherin was a house for dark wizards. Like his father before him, Albus was unconsciously swayed by a new friendship made on the Hogwarts Express. These two changes in Albus’s personal circumstances set the stage for Albus to make his choice under the Sorting Hat.

Despite these events above, Albus did not choose Slytherin house until conversing with the Sorting Hat. This is clear from his surprise at the decision. Albus exhibits traits from both Gryffindor and Slytherin houses, but ultimately he longs to break away from the family name and the expectations that accompany it. Sensing his deepest desire, the Sorting Hat explained to Albus that in Gryffindor he would never break free of his father’s shadow, whereas in Slytherin, the opportunity to forge his own path and prove himself away from the Potter family name, was ready and waiting to be taken. Buoyed by his conversation with his father and newfound friendship with Scorpius, Albus Potter made a decision he never thought he’d make. He chose to be in Slytherin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you I was a Ravenclaw.
> 
> With reference to this answer on Stack Exchange: http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/139431/why-was-albus-severus-sorted-into-slytherin/139469


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